What does it take to become a EMT in Hawaii?
Is going through KCC the only way?
Is the EMT program a stand-alone program that churns out career-ready graduates, or is it a regular academic program that requires electives, prerequisites, and all that jazz?

Being this is Hawaii, the course is 6 years long, offered at one school, and the waiting list is forever.

holy shit it's 6 years long?! That's an extensive commitment for only a decent job. Is 6 years the national average, or just Hawaii?

I think he's pulling your leg and making a comment on how everything works here.

like most things in hawaii  it s a state owned monopoly reguardless of national certs or previous experience you must attend or clep the program at kcc
then its who you know..... just like the fire science program you can graduate but that does not mean anything with 12 slots opening a year

on the academic side you can be as dumb as a bag of hammers and pass the nremt

Dregs- I was pulling your leg man. I got no clue about the program, but this is Hawaii so good luck.

I had a girlfriend who was a Physical Therapist Assistant (sort of like a dental tech for physical therapists, I guess), and it was pretty easy for her because apparently Hawaii is extremely lax about the certification requirements.  When she moved back home to Minnesota, she never went back to work at that job because MN, like a lot of states apparently, requires you to take a pretty tough certification exam.  I don't know if EMTs are the same way, but they might be, in which case it may actually be easier to get into that job here than elsewhere.  Call 911 and ask to speak to an EMT!   

I thought (HiCarry?) was in the medical field.  I think he'd have some valuable insight.

I thought (HiCarry?) was in the medical field.  I think he'd have some valuable insight.

This would be a good starting point.  He is really busy this week, but send him a private message and he will probably try to answer it the best he can.

Kapiolani Community College and Hawaii Community College offer the training, although there are "training centers" on the neighbor islands. The course is about 6 months long, which will get you a EMT certificate. There are minor differences in the program (KCC = EMT - intermediate; HCC = EMT - Basic)
Both of these are the minimal requirements to staff an ambulance in Hawaii. It is also the first step in the obtaining a paramedic certification.

http://kapiolani.hawaii.edu/object/io_1161942525187.html

Oh cool. It does look like a regular major that requires credits elsewhere rather than a stand-alone program.

Thanks for the info HiC!

Kapiolani Community College and Hawaii Community College offer the training, although there are "training centers" on the neighbor islands. The course is about 6 months long, which will get you a EMT certificate. There are minor differences in the program (KCC = EMT - intermediate; HCC = EMT - Basic)
Both of these are the minimal requirements to staff an ambulance in Hawaii. It is also the first step in the obtaining a paramedic certification.

http://kapiolani.hawaii.edu/object/io_1161942525187.html

I wonder if I could get over my needle fear. I seem to enjoy high stress jobs, maybe I could do this lol.

I wonder if I could get over my needle fear. I seem to enjoy high stress jobs, maybe I could do this lol.

Dude, you're the one putting the needle in the patient.....although in class you'll probably have to start IV's and give shots to each other......

After high school I wanted to be a paramedic. Shortly after enrolling I discovered I could not handle the sight of exposed flesh and large quantities of blood. I went on to plan B. National guard.

I've kicked this idea around quite a bit, although I've never acted on it.  I love first aid stuffs, and I even conned the good ship Cheyenne into sending me to a three day sort of EMT crash-course that the UMO put together.  Learned about all sorts of stuff, most of which I've forgotten, like that mental test you do for people to make sure they don't have a brain injury. 

, like that mental test you do for people to make sure they don't have a brain injury.

mace exam or glascow coma scale?

mace exam or glascow coma scale?

Glasgow Coma Scale!  Thanks for the memory jog, man!  I don't think I'm familiar with the mace exam.

mace exam doesn't sound too pleasant...lol.

Is the mace burning your eyes? Yes or no? Yes? You pass.

The Glascow Coma Scale is a numerical scale used to objectively note the level of consciousness based on physical findings. It does not determine if you have (or had) a concussion, although it is used in conjunction with other tools to provide some diagnostic and prognostic determinations. It uses three spheres with each sphere assigned a number range. The total of the numerical values of each sphere determines how "conscious" (or unconscious) the patient is. It is used to make clinical decisions (such as when someone is so unconscious that they cannot protect their own airway and therefore need some airway adjunct) such as when to intubate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Coma_Scale

The Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE) is a standardized tool used to help determine the relative odds of someone involved in an incident (i.e. explosion) having sustained a concussion.

http://www.pdhealth.mil/downloads/MACE.pdf

A little technical FYI just in case you were interested.

The Glascow Coma Scale is a numerical scale used to objectively note the level of consciousness based on physical findings. It does not determine if you have (or had) a concussion, although it is used in conjunction with other tools to provide some diagnostic and prognostic determinations. It uses three spheres with each sphere assigned a number range. The total of the numerical values of each sphere determines how "conscious" (or unconscious) the patient is. It is used to make clinical decisions (such as when someone is so unconscious that they cannot protect their own airway and therefore need some airway adjunct) such as when to intubate.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Coma_Scale

The Military Acute Concussion Evaluation (MACE) is a standardized tool used to help determine the relative odds of someone involved in an incident (i.e. explosion) having sustained a concussion.

http://www.pdhealth.mil/downloads/MACE.pdf

A little technical FYI just in case you were interested.

Cool.  Yeah, they taught us the Glasgow Coma Scale; we didn't cover the MACE thing.  We didn't learn how to intubate patients, but they did show us the tool and how to put it together so we could just hand it to our corpsman and let him be the one to break all the guy's teeth trying to get a tube in him.  lol.